Report: Kang Removed From DREAM.5 Card

Denis Kang throws a right hand at Gegard Mousasi. Photo courtesy of DREAM.

Former PRIDE welterweight grand prix runner-up Denis Kang has been removed from DREAM’s latest effort on July 21st due to unknown reasons.

The news comes from MMA Weekly, which reports that Kang learned of the change days ago after waiting multiple weeks for the name of the opponent he was supposed to be facing. An opponent was never given and Kang remains unaware of the reasoning behind his removal from the card.

“I have no idea,” Kang said in the report. “I was feeling really good for this fight, I was peaking really well.”

Only one fight remains on Kang’s current contract with DREAM parent company FEG. Despite being pulled from this month’s card, Kang still has the desire to fight in the Far East, where he has spent the last three years of his career exclusively.

“I want to stay with them, I have no problem with them,” Kang said. “I don’t know that any organization can be perfect. I understand that’s just the way business goes. You have to remember, FEG is running K-1 and K-1 Max, K-1 Heavyweight and Dream at the same time. So I know they’re busy. It’s just very frustrating.”

After riding a near-unbelievable 23-fight undefeated streak over a three-year period, Kang has struggled as of late. He has managed to only win one bout since losing to Kazuo Misaki in the finals of PRIDE’s 2006 welterweight tournament and has now lost his last two fights - a brutal knockout at the hands of Yoshihiro Akiyama and a quick submission loss to rising middleweight Gegard Mousasi.